It was dark up there, but there was a faint light streaming from someplace. A narrow tunnel stretched out on each side. The floor was muddy and water ran from the ceiling in sporadic bursts that had already soaked into my clothes and hair.
“Which way do we go now?” Alex asked my mom.
She glanced to the left, and then to the right. “I think this way,” she said and stumbled off to the right.
Alex and I ran after her. She seemed sort of dizzy, weaving from side to side as we sprinted down the tunnel. The further we went, the brighter the light became, until finally we were blinded by it.
A second later we stepped out onto a rocky ledge, and my heart stopped. At the edge of the ledge was a drop off. The height alone was astonishing, but the waterfal spewing over the side of the drop off was what sent my pulse racing the most. Well that, and the pool of water with a severe looking undercurrent that the waterfal poured down into.
Never did it occur to me, during our talk of our water escape that I would have to dive off a ledge into water that was probably going to suck me under. Oh and let’s not forget to mention the most important part. I couldn’t swim.
“So, what are we supposed to do?” I asked, my eyes locked on the waterfall. “Just jump. Because I’m not sure if I can make it.”
“Yeah…” he stared down at the water and then back at me. “I think—”
A shriek blared down the tunnel and I could now see them—the Water Faeries. They were still a ways away, gliding down the shadowy tunnel like ghosts.
“Crap,” Alex said, grabbing my hand. “Jocelyn, we need to—”
Before he could finish, my mother, who had been standing on the ledge, suddenly jumped.
I gasped and ran for the ledge. “Mom!” I couldn’t see her, only the violent water whirling. “Mom…” I whispered.
“Gemma.” Alex’s voices yanked me back to him.
“Grab on to me.”
“What?” I shook my head. “No.”
Alex looked my straight in the eyes. “Wrap your arms around my neck and hang on.”
I wasn’t sure I could do this—jump into the midst of raging water, when I couldn’t swim.
“I don’t think…” I glanced at the Water Faeries, who were so close now I could see the bareness in their eyes. I took a deep breath, summoning every ounce of strength I had in me, and wrapped my arms around Alex’s neck, linking my fingers together tightly.
Alex put his arms around my waist and pushed me so far into him I swear the electricity was going to weld us together. “Close your eyes,” he said, and I did, but not before I caught a glimpse of the Water Faeries about to emerge from the tunnel.
Another loud shriek, and then we dove.
Chapter 37
The water tore at me at me from every angle, cold and rough, violently trying to steal my oxygen. I tried to hold onto Alex, but the water was making my hands slip loose. Alex was kicking, trying to break us free from the undertow. But we just kept getting pulled in all different directions.
Eventually, the water started to settle, and our bodies became less tangled. He swam us upward, and finally we broke through. I gasped for air, and so did Alex. He opened his mouth to say something, but I was tugged downward by a set of bony fingers that had snatched hold of my ankle. My hands slipped from around Alex’s neck, and I was submerged by the dark water again. I tried to kick the Water Faerie off of me, but all it did was tighten it’s grip.
And then Alex had my arm. I knew it was him because of the buzzing. He was pulling on me, but the Water Faerie was too. My body felt like it was going to tear apart. Then, Alex was beside me, underneath the water. Our bodies tangled together, along with the Water Faeries. There was a lot of tugging and spinning, and then suddenly I was no longer being pulled down, but whooshing upward and bursting out of the water.
Alex swam faster than I ever thought was humanly possible. Especially while hauling me along with him.
And before I knew it, we were lying on the shore, out of breath and panting loudly.
“Are you okay?” Alex asked, out of breath.
I coughed up some of the water I swallowed. “Yeah, I…Wait. Where’s my mom?”
In the snap-of-a-finger, we were both on our feet and searching. But I couldn’t see her anywhere; the only thing in sight was the grey stone castle, the tall-
treed forest, and the haunting…Water Faerie filled lake.
“Oh my word,” I breathed.
Alex followed my gaze and his jaw nearly hit the ground.
Across the dark water, the Water Faeries floated.
The sight would have been all uring—they looked like ball erinas dancing. But knowing what they really were, and what they could do, the sight only made a chil slither down my back.
“They can’t come up here?” I asked. “Right?” He nodded, but his bright green eyes were still locked on the water. “I’ve never seen so many of them up here before, especially when no one has summoned them.”
As I watched the Water Faeries swim around, a thought abruptly smacked me in the head. “Wait.
What if my mom’s still in there?” And then I was running toward the lake, my brain too irrational to process the consequences if I stepped in.
Luckily Alex grabbed me, and pulled me back.
“Are you freaking crazy!” he exclaimed, shaking me by the shoulders, with a look of what could only be described as terrified. “You can’t go in there.” It took my brain a second to grasp the severity of the situation I had just about gotten myself into. “I’m sorry, but what if she’s in there?”
His harsh expression slipped to a semi-sympathetic one. “If she is, then there’s nothing we can do about it.”
“We can go back,” I said, my tone razor sharp. “We have to save her.”
He shook his head. “There’s no way we’re going back there after what happened. Now that they know something’s different about you, they’re going to be all over you if you even step foot in their world again.”
“So what.” I was trying with all my might to wiggle my arm free from his grasp. “I don’t care. How do expect me to just let her stay down there after I saw how horrible of a place it is.” I could feel the tears stinging at my eyes. “Let me go!”
“No,” he told me, just standing there, holding on to my arm, my yanking not even fazing him the slightest bit.
“Let me go,” I growled.
He shook his head, tightening his grip. “You’re not thinking clearly right now.”
I stared him down with a determined look. “You have to let me go. You don’t need to protect me anymore now that the star’s power is probably not going to save the world.”
He stared at me with this strangest look. “I think you
—”
Then we heard it. An earsplitting bang that rocketed through air.
“What the heck was that?” I asked, glancing around at the trees.
Alex looked over at the castle, and then at the ground. I followed his gaze and saw what he was looking at. Footprints, printed across the mud, leading toward the castle.
We took off, tromping through the muddy grass, and running up the hill, until we reached the door to the castle. Alex seemed a little uneasy as he turned the doorknob and creaked the door open. The stale air immediately surrounded us.
“Does anyone live here?” I whispered as we stepped inside.
He shook his head and dropped his hand from the doorknob.
It looked as if no one had been inside the castle for ages. The banister that guided the stairs had a thick layer of dust on it and cobwebs ornamented the ceiling like a haunted house on Hall oween.
Alex went to the bottom of the stairs and glanced up. Another bang shattered the air and his gaze darted down the hall, where the noise had come from.
“What if it’s not my mom?” I whispered.
He held up a finger and then crept down the hall. I stayed behind him, keeping my footsteps light. There was another loud noise that sounding like glass being shattered, and then I saw her.